Magimix review - stocking my freezer with BIG batches of deliciousness: winter squash casserole + kale pesto + homemade nutella

I received a gift last week. When I rolled home from an afternoon of tennis and tae kwon do chauffeuring, this happily blocked my entrance to the back door. Ooh la la!! A food processor from Burgundy, France!! {Is it my birthday?}

No... my birthday wasn't for a few days, but I couldn't wait to open the box. When I heard the 16-cup {yes, 16 CUP!!} food processor was coming my way, I had dreams of making some of my favorite freezer-friendly meals in big batches, quickly and easily...

I adore my Cuisinart and it's given me a great run. But my wedding gift is on its last legs. So, when offered the chance to review the Magimix by Robot-Coupe food processor, I jumped at the chance. That, and the fact that the 16-cup Magimix came with these cool sounding extras like a smoothie maker/juice extractor attachment {helpful, since my blender base is now leaking} and a creative slicing kit {which I'll probably only use occasionally-- but cool} for veggie sides. First recipe I was going to try? A baked winter squash casserole I was creating for Walter Stewart's market, which involved thinly slicing 3 winter squash... something I didn't have the patience-- or time-- to do by hand.

And, while I eagerly began assembling the ingredients for test recipe #1, my kids took off with the packaging.

This gift was quickly becoming a win-win all around.

OK, so, while they were happily turning the packing materials into rocket ships and whatnot, my goal was to {quickly} make a triple batch of the winter squash casserole-- one in time for dinner, the other two for the freezer. I washed and chopped the squash into pieces that would fit through the extra large feed tube in the lid.

Then, I ran them through, using the slicing disk.

I am fairly certain that even with its 16-cup capacity, I was supposed to empty the bowl at least once, but hey, three medium squashes all just fit. {Might as well test this food processor the way I would actually use it, right?!}

Then into a heavy-duty pot went the squash, along with onions I ran through using the slicing blade, and 4 cups of broth {though you could also use wine... I chose to drink the wine, and cook with broth}. 3 large winter squash and 4 onions chopped in about 5 minutes, then I popped the lid on the pot for 20 minutes until the squash softened... enough time to enjoy the aforementioned glass of wine. This recipe was quickly become a favorite.

Then I ran two hunks of sharp cheddar through the grating disk. I made the JV mistake of letting the cheese sit out on the counter {versus keeping it chilled} while I was enjoying my wine, so it was a bit 'gooey' when I shredded it. Oops. That didn't really matter though, since it was all just going into the pot...

OK, so then along with the 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar, I added 4 cups of cooked wild rice, 6 whisked eggs, 1 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs and 2 cups of sour cream. Gave everything a stir, then filled my baking dishes with an equal amount of this decadence, and sprinkled each tray with 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan.

I know the quantities sound absurdly large, but remember, I wanted to make a lot of this dish-- enough for the freezer too. And since I had this enormous capacity food processor to work with, I thought, heck, I might as well double my normal recipe!!

I let the two going into the freezer cool down, then placed a layer of plastic wrap on top, wrapped them in foil and labeled them.

The third dish was baked for 30 minutes at 350, until the top was golden brown. And let me tell you, this comforting casserole was so good. An amazing meatless meal on a chilly Fall night. Everyone loved it.

{Big Batch of} Cheesy Winter Squash Casserole
(makes 20 servings, enough to feed a crowd or freeze meals for busy nights ahead)

3 medium winter squash*, thinly sliced
4 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 cups broth or white wine
4 cups cooked wild rice or brown rice**
2 cups sour cream
2 cups sharp cheddar, shredded
1 1/4 cups whole wheat breadcrumbs
6 eggs, whisked
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan
cooking spray or olive oil {to grease the baking dishes}

baking dishes: four 8x8 or two 13x9 oven-proof baking dishes

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease baking dishes with a bit of oil. Run the squash and onion through your Magimix {or food processor of choice} to thinly slice them, using the slicing disk. In a large pot with a tight fitting lid, combine the squash, onions and broth {or wine}. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until squash softens to fork tender. Add the remaining ingredients {cooked rice, sour cream, shredded cheese, bread crumbs and eggs}. Stir. Spoon filling into baking dishes and top each one with a sprinkling of shredded Parmesan. If packaging for freezer: cool down and cover with a layer of plastic wrap, then tin foil; label and date. If baking now: bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. 

From frozen: thaw in fridge overnight then bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown. If coming straight out of freezer, it will likely take about 1 hour to cook. If top gets too brown, you can loosely cover it with foil.

*You can use any variety of winter squash-- delicata, butternut, acorn or the more unique varieties like sweet dumpling. I used one acorn, one sweet dumpling and one butternut squash in this recipe. I only peeled the butternut squash. The other two I just washed well. The skin on the acorn and sweet dumpling squash is soft enough to eat after cooking.

** I like the packets of cooked brown or wild rice you can find in the freezer section of most supermarkets these days. Saves me time!

One successful recipe under my belt, I was anxious to try another! My freezer stock of meals had suffered a big dent after many nights sitting around eating bonbons instead of making dinner {kidding people, you know how it goes with the afternoon shlepping...} so I decided to make an enormous batch of one of my stand-bys: power green pesto.

Ogling the 16-cup bowl, I filled my grocery cart with loads of greens... like five 10 oz boxes!! I kind of laughed looking at my original recipe-- 1 lb of greens? Pshaw! And since I knew the blades were extra sharp {and under 30-year warranty}, I decided to make this batch kale-arugula-spinach-almond.

Yes, people, you are looking at {drum roll}....

9 cups of power green-almond pesto made at once {translation: lots of family dinners in the freezer, just waiting to be enjoyed!!}

{Big Batch} of Power Green-Almond Pesto
(makes 9 cups)

five 10 oz packages leafy greens (your choice: power greens, kale, arugula, spinach, etc)
1 lb almonds (about 2 cups)
1 cup olive oil
2 cups vegetable broth
zest and juice of 4 lemons
8+ cloves garlic
salt and pepper, to taste

In a Magimix {or large capacity food processor}, combine everything and pulse to desired texture. Store in airtight containers, in the freezer, for up to three months. 

Then, I came across the "cocktail" cookbook in the Magimix packaging and got all excited. Until I realized that cocktail in French must just mean healthy fruit drinks....

Oh well. I still wanted to give the juicer a try! I decided on one of the "revitalizing and cleansing" elixirs...

Hmmm, this recipe needs a re-do, on my part. The taste was surprisingly nice..

and I appear to have removed a lot of the pulp from the juice...

but my "juice" was much more 'smoothie' consistency. I think that attachment just takes some getting used to, or maybe I need to actually read the directions before using it. {Reading instructions first is not my forte.} 

No problem. I packaged this batch of beet-carrot-celery root 'slurry' in a tub to be added to an upcoming veggie soup and moved on.

Because, truth be told, when I was flipping through the recipe booklet that came with the Magimix, I was easily distracted by the recipe for homemade chocolate-hazelnut spread. Plus, I wanted to see how their patented nesting bowls worked. My 16-cup food processor came with 3 bowls (6-cup, 12-cup and 16-cup) that nest on top of one another {theoretically, so you can move through a recipe quickly without having to wash a bowl in between... but old habits die hard. Since my Cuisinart food processor only came with one bowl, I found myself still washing in between.} I'll learn.

{Oh, and no, I did not happen to just have these 4 ingredients on hand. I will fully admit to making a special trip to the supermarket for them...}

First, I melted the butter and chocolate in my makeshift double boiler...

Then, I pulsed the hazelnuts in the smallest of the three bowls that came with my Magimix.

I poured the warm chocolate over the nuts, popped the lid back on, and turned the blade to "auto"

while I poured condensed milk down the feed tube.

Oh my.

A chef must always try a dish before serving it.

{Big batch of} Magimix Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
(makes 4 cups)

1/2 cup hazelnuts
3/4 cup dark chocolate
2 sticks of butter
14 oz condensed milk {1 cup}

Grind the nuts for about 1 minute, until a fine texture. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter until smooth. Pour the warm chocolate/butter mixture over the nuts. Then, turn the Magimix food processor on, and pour the condensed milk down the feed tube. Run the blade until chocolate spread in combined and smooth. Store chocolate spread in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer. Makes a very special hostess gift... and an even more special after-school treat!

I am absolutely thrilled with my new 'kitchen toy', and cannot wait to keep slicing, dicing, mashing and julienning with it for the next 30+ years!

Note: Product reviews are one of the {awesome} perks of being a food blogger. Magimix sent me one of their 16-cup food processors and the smoothie/juicer attachment and the specialty blade kits to try in my home kitchen. I was not compensated in any other way, and all opinions are my own. The Magimix by Robot-Coupe food processors are currently available in the U.S. at Chefs Catalog and Williams-Sonoma. 

Holiday Feast in a Snap - A Simple Make Ahead Plan is here!

It's here! Let the "bonus hours" rack up!! After many, many requests, I finally found enough time to sit down and write-up my annual plan for a {sane} Thanksgiving feast. {Because it didn't do you any good if it was all in my head, now did it?} I know that you're thinking: "A calm, planned-for-me Thanksgiving cooking plan?! Sign me up!"

I love Thanksgiving. And part of the reason is because I get a lot of my shopping and cooking done ahead of time. No one wants a stressed out mom or hostess. 

So, if the thought of hosting the feast overwhelms you, or you're picturing a Thanksgiving spent captive in your kitchen, then my instantly downloadable booklet is for you. 

Or maybe you're wondering what delicious sides you can make ahead of time and bring to Aunt Melba's as your offering? Pick one from my plan that is sure to please! I've got you covered with  plenty of simple recipe ideas, each with its own done-for-you shopping list. 

This instantly downloadable program will take you through everything from brining your turkey to making {the best} homemade gravy...

simple cranberry sauce to

more unique, but equally easy {and crowd pleasing}, side dishes like savory roasted apples and

a super-healthy, cranberry-pecan quinoa salad with orange vinaigrette.

And since someone always wants decadent potatoes, I teach you how to make my favorite potato and root veggie gratin

alongside my healthier maple mashed sweet potatoes.

And, of course, a nice green veggie to round the meal out-- your choice of two of my favorites that are simple to make-- shredded Brussels sprouts or green beans in a mustard vinaigrette.

The booklet {which will come to you as an instant download from SendOwl} includes:

• done-for-you shopping lists for the entire feast, as well as individual shopping lists for each recipe {which people say is probably the most valuable part of this program... talk about a time-saver!}
• a done-for-you list of pantry items {so you can stock up ahead of time... like now, before the holiday grocery marketing rush!}
• a done-for-you list of my go-to cooking equipment {plus each recipe details the cooking equipment and baking dishes you'll need, so you're totally organized}
• a step-by-step, day-by-day, cooking plan leading up to the feast {to keep overwhelm in check! repeat after me: "I will be a guest at the feast too this year"}
• a simple cooking/reheating plan for the day of the feast {so you get to relax and enjoy the holiday too-- remember, no frazzled mom/hostess this go round!}
• and, a set of my all-time favorite holiday recipes {culled down from binders and binders of ideas to a doable # of family favorites: dry turkey brine, homemade gravy, simple stuffing, port-apricot cranberry sauce, maple mashed sweet potatoes, potato and root vegetable gratin, cranberry-pecan quinoa salad, savory roasted apples, and shaved Brussels sprouts or green beans with mustard vinaigrette}

 

P.S. Once Thanksgiving is so stress-free, you might also like to check out the "Stock Your Freezer in a Snap" program, which helps you feed your family well on the busiest of {non-holiday} days. Cheers to "bonus hours"... even around the holidays!

if there's a bare patch on the playground, you'll know the Johnsons are eating well

This morning, my younger son hopped into my bed and flopped his Dragon Slayer's book over to my side. "Mommy! Guess what?!! After you're done reading to me I have something very special for you. You are going to love it. It's a secret!", he said with the mystery of a dramatic 6-year-old... but then it was breakfast time, time to get dressed, time to catch the bus... and off he went.

Then this evening, as I was heating dinner up from our freezer stash {reveling in the fact that all I had to do was turn the oven on}, he excitedly runs to the fridge and whips out a ziploc filled with a piece of copy paper and... what is that?

"I picked you spring onions at school! You can make dinner with them!!"

I looked at this bundle of limp-- um, I'm no expert, but I am pretty sure it was overgrown grass-- he held out to me expectantly.

"They're not as fresh as yesterday because they were in my backpack. But when you were out last night, I put them in the fridge... to keep them fresh." {He holds the green wad up to his nose and inhales deeply... then frowns.} "They do not smell like onions now, but I think if we cook with them we will taste the onion," he says with authority.

First thought: boy, he's cute. Next thought: there's no way I am eating grass he found on the playground.

"Wow. Um, ok, so where did you find these special onions?" {I feel guilty wanting a glass of wine and have to stifle a giggle, picturing him foraging while the other kids are playing tag.}

"At school! They grow by our building! I can pick more for you tomorrow!! If we have some tomatoes, we can make a salad. I thought you would love these onions," he says looking at me expectantly.

And so we did. We made a salad with tomatoes, some fresh mint... and grass from the school playground.

Then, he decided "the salad would be even better if we cooked it!" {And I thought, yes, and the heat will kill whatever's on the grass that the water didn't get.}

While his brother did homework, he proudly seasoned the tomatoes, mint, olive oil and grass onions,

and we sat down to {a special} family dinner.

cranberry walnut quinoa salad with orange vinaigrette

'Tis the season when we're gathering with family and friends... and sometimes we're asked to bring a little something along to contribute to the feast. There's a chill in the air, the leaves are turning (or maybe there's already snow on the ground where you are!), and comfort foods are the norm at many of these gatherings. With that in mind, I like to bring something healthy-- that's quick and easy to whip up-- as my potluck contribution. I recently made this quinoa salad to rave reviews. It is so good {and good for you!}. While it's really, really simple to make, the flavors and different textures make it special enough to be a part of your next gathering, or holiday feast. Plus, it can be made up to three days ahead, making it a perfect recipe for the busy holiday season.

Cranberry Walnut Quinoa Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

(makes 8-10 servings)

4 cups broth (vegetable or chicken, or you can use water)
2 cups (12 oz) quinoa
6 scallions, white parts chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
2 oranges, zested and juiced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar 
salt and pepper, to taste

Bring 4 cups of broth (or water) and 2 cups of quinoa to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until liquid is absorbed (about 15 minutes). While the quinoa is cooking combine rest of ingredients (scallions, cranberries, walnuts, fresh mint, orange zest and juice, olive oil and vinegar) in a mixing bowl. When the quinoa is cooked, add the warm quinoa to the mixing bowl. Stir to combine flavors. Serve warm or room temp. May be made ahead and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. In fact it's even better after the flavors have had a chance to meld for a day+!

While the quinoa cooked, I chopped, zested and juiced the rest of the ingredients.

Once it was done cooking, the warm quinoa was added to the mixing bowl and everything was stirred to combine the ingredients.

Done! So easy, so delicious-- and so healthy!! 

• You can serve this quinoa salad warm or room temp. 
• You substitute sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds if you need it to be nut-free.
• This is a perfect vegetarian offering-- full of protein {quinoa} and good fat {walnuts and olive oil} and wonderful flavors.
• You could also add chopped cooked chicken breast, tofu or grilled shrimp to make it even heartier. 

Hope you and your friends enjoy this new recipe as much as we did!

For more of my make-ahead meal ideas that can be whipped out when the guests arrive, you might like to check out the "Stock Your Freezer in a Snap" program, which is full of casual, comforting dinners.

Hope you have a relaxed holiday season, full of good food, family and friends!